Assorting and delivering mechanism.



0. w. COLBY, mzcn. D- L- SMITH, EXECUTOR.

ASSORTING AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

Patented July 18, 1916.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I0, I915- I III III 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL COLBY, DECEASED, LATE 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, BY DANIEL L.

SMITH, EXECU'IOR, OF NEEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ASSORTING AND DELIVERING MECHANISM.

Patented July 18,1916.

Original application filed October 12,1911, Serial No. 654,241. Divided and this application filed July 10, 1915. Serial No. 39,207.

To all whom it may concern:

Be'it known that DANIEL W. COLBY, deceased, late of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand Commonwealth of Massachusetts, invented certain Improvements in Assorting and Delivering Mechanisms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to mechanism for assorting flanged articles from a mass contained in bulk and delivering them in predetermined position to a raceway.

An object of the invention is to provide mechanism of this character which shall be adapted to handle articles of non-symmetrical shape such, for example, as D-shaped eyelets. It is desired to set eyelets of nonsymmetrical shape all in the same predetermined position with respect to the edge of the work and consequently all of the eyelets must be delivered to the raceway in the same position. Heretofore much difficulty has been experienced in properly handling D-shaped eyelets and, in fact, it has been necessary to supply such eyelets one by one to the setting instrumentalities of the machine by which they were to be set.

A feature of the present invention, therefore, consists broadly in assorting and delivering mechanism so constructed and arranged as to deliver D-shaped eyelets all in the same position to a raceway.

In the construction of the assorting mechanism herein disclosed advantage is taken of the fact that a D-shaped eyelet tends naturally to assume a position in which it rests upon its flat side. As herein shown the hopper is provided witha separator having recesses to receive D-shaped eyelets in this position, the separator being movable to convey the eyelets to an outlet port through which they reach a raceway. It is desired to present the eyelets to the raceway resting upon their flanges and to this end another feature of the invention consists in means for tipping each eyelet from a position in which it rests upon its flat side to a position in which it rests upon its flange during its movement to the raceway. As herein shown this is eifected by providing a track having a progressively increasing inclination so that as the eyelets are moved along it by the separator they are gradually tipped in a di rect1on transverse to their line of movement, each eyelet finally landing on its flange.

V These and other features of the invention will-be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a. preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a View of a setting machine equipped with the assorting mechanism of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing the setting dies and the deliveryend of the raceway; Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary views in perspective of the assorting mechanism; Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig.

3; and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional Y view on the line 66'.of Fig. 3.

The machine herein illustrated forms the subject-matter of co-pending application Serial No. 654,241 of which the present application is a division. The machine shown is one which may be used advantageously for setting -D-shaped eyelets although the assorting and delivering mechanism herein claimed is not limited in its application to this or any particular machine.

- The machine comprises a flat base plate 10 from which extends a vertical bifurcated frame 12 provided in its upper arm with a socket for the stationary upsetting die 14.

In the lower arm of the frame is provided a vertical bearing for a plunger 16 which carries at its upperend the lower or eyelet car-' rying die 18. The lower die 18 is provided with the usual center spindle 20 for picking the eyelets from the raceway and holding them in place during the setting operation.

The plunger 16 is operated by a lever 24 journaled at the side of the frame 12 and connected at its rear end to a treadle rod.

which the endmost eyelet in the raceway is located in alinement with the spindle 20 of the lower setting die, as shown in Fig. 2,

to 'an inoperative position to the rear of'the setting dies.

l The eyelet hopper is mounted upon the rear end of the raceway andcarried back.

and forth by the raceway in its oscillations. The hopper herein disclosed is provided with a rotatable casing 40 having a driving shaft 44 extending downwardly through the bottom of the hopper and provided at its lower end with a ratchet wheel 45. As the hopper is moved back and forth the teeth of the ratchet wheel 45 are engaged by a pawl mounted on the frame 12 but concealed in the drawings by the ratchet wheel 45. In this way the casing 40 is given an intermittent rotary movement.

Movement of the raceway is effected by the oscillation of the lever 24 through a cam and roller connection comprising a cam 84 on the lever 30 and a roller 28 on the lever 24. The shape of the cam 34 is such as to cause the raceway to be moved rearwardly at the beginning of the operating stroke of the lever 24 and then to remain at rest during the setting operation. In the reverse movement of the lever 24 lost motion occurs initially so that the plunger 16 is lowered before the raceway is advanced.

In order to adapt the machine for setting D-shaped eyelets the seating dies 14 and 18 and also the center spindle 20 are made D- shaped in cross section, as shown in Fig. 2. The straight sides of the setting dies are disposed towardthe front of the machine so that the D-shaped eyelets shall be set with their curved sides toward the edge of the work. In order to deliver the eyelets in the proper position to the setting dies the delivery end of the raceway is curved transversely across the machine and has an open ing in its side through which the endmost eyelet is drawn by the center spindle 20 when the raceway is moved rearwardly. The endmost eyelet is yieldingly retained in the raceway by a leaf spring 38 which an tends over the end of the barrel of the eyelet and has a hooked portion arranged to engage the outer flat surface of the barrel.

Referring now to the eyelet assorting device, as shown in Figs. 3 to 6, the circular base plate 42 is'provided with a depressed track or channel 50 having on its inner edge a vertical shoulder. A cylindrical casing 40 is arranged to turn with its lower edge on the track 50 and is actuated from the central shaft 44 to which it is connected by radially extending arms. In the lower edge of the casing 40 are formed a plurality of open ended U-shapedrecesses 48 the walls of which are tapered inwardly from the inner surface of the casing. These recesses are each shaped to receive a D-shaped eye-' let resting on its flat side and receive the eyelets from the mass contained promiscuously in the hopper. The upper end of the raceway 36 merges into the track 50 through an intermediate piece 54 which has cut in it a track so shaped as to tilt end of the raceway and the front wall of the track is correspondingly flattened as will be apparent from the sectional views shown in Figs. 5 and 6. On account of the inclination of the raceway and hopper the eyelets would drop out of the recesses 48 as they approach the rear side of the hopper if not retained by the shoulder of the track 50. In order to prevent eyelets of the mass from reaching the raceway through the opening cut in the base plate 42 for the piece 54 an angular guard plate 52 is provided at this point as shown in Figs. 3, 5 and 6. Those eyelets in the recesses 48 which do not rest upon their flat sides fall out of the recesses when carried to the higher side of the hopper and these eyelets and others carried by the rotating casing roll across the bottom 42 to the lower side of the casing. This tumbling about of the eyelets causes many of them to assume positions in which they rest upon their fiat sides and so mayenter the recesses 48.

It is believed that the operation of the machine will be clear from the foregoing description but it may be briefly stated as follows: Eyelets are poured promiscuously into the hopper and such as happen to assume proper positions enter the recesses 48 at the lower side of the casing 40 and are carried to the upper end of the raceway wardly, inserted in the work, and clenched against the stationary setting die. The treadle rod is then released and the lower setting die retracted by the spring leaving the work free to be removed.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Eyelet assorting mechanism, including a base plate with a depressed track therein, means for carrying eyelets resting upon their sides along the track, a raceway communicating with said track, and means for tipping the eyelets so that they rest on their flanges when they arrive at the raceway.

2. Eyelet assorting mechanism, including a base plate having a circular shoulder therein, a raceway communicating with the base plate outside said shoulder, and a carrier having eyelet receiving recesses opening inwardly for moving eyelets over said base plate with their flanges abutting against said shoulder.

3. Eyelet assorting mechanism, including a base plate having a track, a raceway merging into said track, and a section between said raceway and track shaped to turn the eyelets endwise in passing from one to the other and before they reach the raceway.

4C. Eyelet assorting mechanism, including a base plate having a circular track therein, a cylindrical casing arranged for rotation with its lower edge resting on said track, the casing having recesses opening radially in its lower edge, the walls of which taper from the inner wall of said casing, and a raceway communicating with said track.

5. Fastener assorting mechanism, including a base plate having a circular shoulder therein, a. cylindrical casing arranged for rotation upon said base plate with its inner wall concentric with, and outside, said circular shoulder, and a raceway communicatder.

6. Fastener assorting mechanism, including an inclined base plate having a curved shoulder therein, and a rotatable casing with open ended recesses therein arranged to carry fasteners over the surface of said inclined base plate, the fasteners being prevented from falling out of said recesses when they are carried to the higher side of said plate by said curved shoulder.

7. Assorting and delivering mechanism comprising a hopper having a plane bottom,

mg with said base plate outside said shouland means for moving articles along a predetermined path in the hopper, the surface of said path having'a progressively varying inclination with respect to the plane of the hopper bottom.

8. Assorting and delivering mechanism comprising a hopper, an eyelet separator having an opening shaped to contain a D- shaped eyelet lying on its flat surface and to permit such eyelet to be tipped about the flat edge of its flange, and means for so tipping an eyelet.

9. Assorting and delivering mechanism comprising a hopper having a shoulder, and an eyelet separator having recesses constructed and arranged to contain D-shaped eyelets with the flat edge of the flange of each eyelet against the shoulder, the depth of the shoulder being progressively increased and its inclination progressively decreased.

10. Assorting and delivering mechanism comprising a base disposed to support on its upper face a mass of articles supplied in bulk, a rotatable casing mounted upon the base and serving to confine the articles to be assorted, said casing having a plurality of outwardly tapering recesses for receiving the articles and carrying them along a predetermined path while they rest upon the base, and a raceway constructed and arranged to be supplied from said recesses.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

DANIEL L. SMITH,

EmecutOW 0 f the will ofDam'el W. Colby.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

